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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 11, 1982)
I Tl Daily Tl 8 University of Nebraska-Lincoln Thursday, February 11, 1982 Vol. 109 No. 24 Lincoln, Nebraska Copyright 1982 Daily Nebraskanfj Mp Candidate objects to ASUN election procedures By Betsy Miller A complaint calling for the "indefinite suspension" of the March 3 ASUN elections was filed Tuesday afternoon against the ASUN Electoral Commission. Mike Frost, STUPID II Party presidential candidate, and Kathy Mach filed the complaint, which has seven major complaints about the commission. Frost said the complaint was not filed on behalf of the STUPID II Party, but because he is concerned that the election rules are not providing a "fair and equal contest." "We arc asking for the suspension of the 1982 ASUN elections until the commission can draw up a clear and Proposed bill would ban some employees from joining unions By Alice Hrnicek Opponents of a bill that would prohibit certain public employees from joining unions united Wednesday to testify against the bill. Only the bill's sponsors, Sens. Howard Peterson of Grand Island and Elroy Hefner of Coleridge, spoke in favor of the mea sure to the Nebraska Legislature's Business and Labor Committee. LB610 would prohibit teachers in pub lic schools, police, firefighters, deputy sheriffs, members of the Nebraska State Patrol and Nebraska National Guard from joining unions. The bill also would not allow public funds to be used when a public employee appears before a legislative committee or negotiates terms of employment. Some of Peterson's comments were met with loud booing from public employees and union representatives, of whom about a dozen testified, calling the bill uncon stitutional. Peterson said he hopes to avoid public union strikes, wluch have occurred at the federal level, even though they are out lawed. The state's recessionary economy could prompt state employees to strike if they refuse to accept wage cutbacks, he said. "It's necessary for them (public employ ees) to sacrifice some personal rights to ensure the continuity of government," Peterson said. However, Sen. Tom Vickers of Farnum said the private sector provides many essential services and that it also should be prohibited from forming unions under Peterson's reasoning. "What if farmers join together and say we are not going to provide any food?" Vickers said. "Isn't food a public service?" Sen. Bernice Labedz of Omaha said she was concerned that if public unions were discontinued, the Legislature would be for ced to join labor negotiations instead of keeping wage talks between a department and a union. "I can see the Legislature ending up in an awful lot of trouble," Labedz said. "Won't we be spending all our time with this?" Jim Gruhn, president of the Omaha Association of Firefighters, said there have been no strikes in the 28 years of the union's existence. A clause against strikes is in the union's collective bargaining agree ment. Nebraska AFL-CIO president Gordon McDonald said the measure would interfere with the duty of officials in presenting ideas to the Legislature if they are forced to use vacation time to appear at hearings. Since the development of Omaha's first labor union in 1970, the city has been better able to administer its duties and dis cuss employee problems, said Gary Trout man. Omaha personnel director. A UNL freshman, Patricia van Horn, said that if teachers were not allowed to have unions, students would not be ensur ed of getting the best possible education. School boards would try to decrease tea cher salaries, she said, attracting lower quality teachers. precise set of election rules," the suit reads. If action is not taken, he said he will file suit in student court. Electoral Commission Director Jennifer Fagcr said the commission has the power to consider the complaint and decide if it will act on it. However, she said Frost and Mach could appeal the issue to the court if the commission turns down their re quest. The suit alleges that: posters for the RliAL Party and candidate Brian Stonccipher were posted on campus before Wednesday. Frost said Electoral Commission rules specify that posters 7! lift -II 4j "ff lll '!m i Photo by D. Eric Kircher Workers continue to prepare the Cornhusker Hotel for its upcoming demolition Wednesday by removing the stone heads that adorn the sides of the building. may not be put up before Wednesday. -the Electoral Commission's interpretation of the posters rule is incorrect. The rule reads that posters can be displayed between Feb. 10, 1982, and March 3, 1982. However, Frost said the commission gave RliAL Party members permission to post signs betore that time, but made no attempt until Tuesday to tell other parties they could do the same thing. -a section of the commission rules that make candi dates responsible for all actions taken in their campaigns is ambiguous. The rule says candidates are responsible even for the actions of people uninvolvcd in their campaigns. Fager said the rule is ambiguous because it would be too complicated if every action candidates can or cannot take was spelled out. -the rule specifying the number of posters a candidate can place on campus bulletin boards is also ambiguous. die commission is not ensuring a fair election for all parties. Frost said the STUPID II Party attempted to file for student organization status, and later found out it did not qualify because it used the same party name as it did a year ago. Frost said his party was not aware of this rule until Monday. -two different times were given as official filing dead lines for the election. Electoral rules read that the dead line was Wednesday at 9 a.m., but the petition students used to gather signatures said the deadline was 4 p.m. Wednesday. Fager said a typographical error in the petition caused the confusion. She said the correct deadline was 9 a.m., but that all petitions filed at 4 p.m. were accepted be cause of the error. Frost said the students who thought the deadline was 9 a.m. were hindered if they didn't get the signatures re quired by 9 a.m. and then assumed they could not run. - the rules do not specify what would happen if a first vice presidential candidate could not hold office. The suit asks if the slate would be knocked off the ballot, or if the party would be allowed to substitute a new candidate. The revised electoral rules this year required that the president and first vice president candidates run together. Presidential candidate withdraws from race ASUN Sen. Brian Stonccipher told the Daily Ncbras kan at the senate's Wednesday night meeting he is with drawing from the ASUN presidential race. Stonecipher said he decided not to file with the Elec toral Commission because he thinks other presidential candidates have added important issues to their platforms. "One of our main intentions when we were running was to get some issues out in the open and in front of the public where they (other parties) had to react to them," Stonecipher said. When he decided to announce his candidacy, Stone cipher said he already had an idea he might drop out of the race if he could get other candidates to pay atten tion to certain issues. Restoring ASUN's credibility was one topic Stone cipher said was important. He said several parties revised their platforms to mention the ASUN credibility problem after he announced his candidacy for senate president and began voicing his opinion on senate problems. At the meeting, the senate appointed UNL students Pat Meister, Tim O'Keffee, Sidney Pinney, Susan Noel and Susan Hansen to the Nebraska Union Board. Nette Nelson, chairman of the Government Liaison Committee, urged the senate to try and make students aware of the federal budget proposals to make major changes in educational funding and that $590 million in federal financial aid may be cut in 1982 and 1983. Increase in nine parking fines approved Nine fine increases were approved by the Parking Advisory Committee Tues day, according to Sherry 1 Chamberlain, an accounting clerk who takes minutes for the meetings. Ray Coffey, secretary of the Parking Advisory Committee, said the recom mended increases will be sent to interim Vice Chancellor for Business and Fin ance John Goebel and Chancellor Mar tin Massengale for their approval or dis approval. If approved, the fines for a movable permit not displayed and an improperly displayed permit would be raised from $1 to S2, Chamberlain said. Penalities for improper parking, left side parking and residing in a motor vehicle would increase from $3 to $5 . The increased fine for no valid per mit passed with one dissenting vote, the only increase which did not pass unanimously, according to Chamberlain. It was changed from $10 to $15. The penalty for unauthorized parking in re served stalls would also be raised from $10 to $15, she said. The largest fine increase was the handling and service fee for wheel lock and immobilization, which was raised from $5 to $20. Another change involving the wheel lock was that the release of an immobil ized vehicle must be obtained by 6 p.m. on the immobilization date, rather than the previous 8 pjn., or the vehicle will be impounded, Chamberlain said. One reduction was made in tines, according to Chamberlain. The failure to provide notice of registration change was lowered from $3 to $2, she said. Proposed changes were also made in the lots in which certain parking permits are valid. Area 1 permits would be valid in East Campus lots 24 and 28, as well as the previous 25 and 27 lots. Area 6 permits would be valud in City Campus lots 21, 22 and 23.